Carfartz.com Hybrid Blog

OK, so you’ve heard hybrids are the hot new thing, you’ve heard you can save gas, you’ve heard there are tax breaks. But how does a hybrid car work? Can it really save you all that money? Will it deliver the performance and handling you can get from a gasoline car, or is at all smoke and mirrors?

Actually, it’s simple. A hybrid car uses the same technology that cars have used for years, it’s just engineered better. A LOT better.

A hybrid car has two motors: a regular old gasoline motor, and an electric motor. When you only need a little power, the electric motor moves the car for you. When you need some real power, the gas engine kicks in and behaves just like a regular car.

Can it really be that simple? Well, yes. Electric motors are used all the time, in everything from power tools to heavy duty factory machines. But until recent years, the batteries needed to supply enough power to move a car would have been way too heavy. Advances in battery technology are what have really made the hybrid possible.

As well as taking up less size and weight, modern batteries are way better at charging up and delivering power. And an electric motor can generate power as well as put it out – just like a dynamo. So every time you brake, you’re turning the electric motor and putting power back into the battery. When you’re cruising down the highway and running on gas, you’re charging the battery. When you’re rolling down a hill, you can use the power of gravity to…charge the battery.

At the same time, auto makers have also improved the gasoline engine. Used to be that you turned the ignition key, the battery drove the alternator and the engine groaned into life. Newer engines can start and stop far more easily. So now when you start the car, you pull away under electrical power, and once you’ve got up to a certain speed the gasoline motor just kicks in. You hear it, but it doesn’t make any difference in how the car handles – the power is there when you want it. Every time you want to slow down or brake, the gasoline motor shuts down first because there’s no point in running it while you’re slowing the car down.

Auto makers had been using electronics in their engines for years, to improve fuel consumption and power delivery. So the hybrid is just the natural evolution of that with an efficient electric motor to handle the low power needs. Meantime you save fuel, pollute less, and get a tax break. What’s not to like?